Editorial: 2-way street on cyclist enforcement

West Lafayette Officer Janet Winslow issues a warning to cyclist Min Jae Park on Sept. 13 along State Street.

West Lafayette police officers stationed in the Village area in recent weeks haven't had to wait long to pull aside cyclists who were riding on sidewalks, cruising the wrong way in the street or doing something else illegal.

The officers, on special detail during the opening weeks of Purdue University's semester, have been writing violation warnings at a steady clip. More than 200 had been reported by the end of last week.

The effort has been well-placed by the West Lafayette Police Department, which is trying to keep sidewalks clear for pedestrians and bring cyclists up to speed on state and city codes. (It is against city code to ride on sidewalks in a business district; in the Village, where foot traffic is heavy, a bike can have everyone scrambling to get out of the way.)

While cyclists have been the ones reaching for IDs to show police, the subtext of the operation is just as important for motorists to understand.

Part of the equation is to get bikes into the flow of traffic. And that means some buy-in from motorists driving through West Lafayette: Bikes belong.

Earlier this year, the West Lafayette City Council passed an ordinance that requires a 3-foot berth when a motorist passes a cyclist.

Much of sales job for the 3-foot rule was this: If the city is going to get serious about getting bike riders off the sidewalks, it needs to get serious about finding cyclists room on the streets.

West Lafayette is showing that it was committed to the first part of that equation, through its sidewalk patrols in the Village in recent weeks. It's up to police, too, to make sure motorists honor their part of the bargain to give bike commuters a fighting chance.

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Editorial: 2-way street on cyclist enforcement

West Lafayette police officers stationed in the Village area in recent weeks haven't had to wait long to pull aside cyclists who were riding on sidewalks, cruising the wrong way in the street or